10 Reasons Why You Should Read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Friday, August 9, 2013

Dear bookish friends,
Ransom Rigg's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was one of my favorite reads of 2011. I reviewed it here. Here's the synopsis (just in case you need a refresher):

A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

If you missed it the first time around, the paperback came out in June (and it's currently less than seven bucks on Amazon right now).

I really like this novel and here are 10 reasons why (in no particular order) I think you'll enjoy it too.

1. It has vintage photographs, like this one:

2. All of the photos are worked into the story.

3. If you're thinking, that looks really scary and I hate horror stories--I don't think this book is for me. Fear not! Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is NOT a horror novel.

9. And it sort of straddles the middle grade and YA line so older MG readers will enjoy it too.

10. Okay, not technically about the novel itself, but the hardcover design of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was excellently done. And I just gotta say Quirk Books did not skimp on quality with the paperback edition either.

Oh, and FYI, if you pick up the paperback edition it has a bunch of bonus materials, including a Q&A with Ransom Riggs, more unusual photographs and a chapter preview of book 2, Hollow City.

Did you already read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children? Let me know what you think.

4 comments

I'm not gonna lie #3 is the reason I haven't picked this book up yet. I mean there is a floating child on the front cover !! But the fact that Tim Burton is involved in the adaptation and that it is now in paperback make me want to give this a try !